If Every Country Is in Debt… Who’s the Creditor?

If every country is in debt, who is the creditor? The answer is not who you think, and it explains how the global financial system really works. Every country in the world is in debt. Governments borrow, issue bonds, and roll over liabilities year after year. Global debt keeps growing, yet it is never truly paid off. That creates a fundamental paradox at the core of the modern financial system. This video explains how global debt actually works by breaking down the structure of modern money, sovereign bonds, and the banking system. Money today is created as a liability. Debt does not simply finance governments; it is the mechanism through which money itself comes into existence. We explore how permanent public debt began in 1694, why modern economies manufacture money through bond issuance, and how primary dealers act as gatekeepers between governments and global capital markets. The video also examines shadow banking, pristine collateral, and why the same assets are reused across the financial system. Japan is used as a key case study to explain what it means for a country to owe debt to itself, and why that exposes a deeper truth about who actually owns global debt. Rather than a single country, institution, or elite group, the creditor is embedded within the system itself. This is not a video about fiscal irresponsibility or political blame. It is an analysis of how the global debt system is designed to operate, why principal is never meant to disappear, and why repayment is not the end goal. Debt functions as the operating system of the modern global economy. Chapters: 00:00 The Global Debt Paradox: Who Is the Final Creditor? 02:17 The Architecture of Debt: Money as a Liability 03:34 1694: The Year Debt Became Permanent 06:28 How Modern Economies Manufacture Money from Thin Air 09:07 Primary Dealers: The Gatekeepers of Global Capital 11:25 The Japanese Anomaly: Owing the Future to Yourself 14:00 Shadow Banking and the Pristine Collateral 16:19 The Perpetual Motion Machine: Why Principal Never Dies 18:35 The Identity of the Global Creditor 21:50 The Final Verdict: Debt as the Operating System Topics covered include global debt, sovereign debt, central banks, the dollar system, bond markets, primary dealers, shadow banking, money creation, financial history, and the structure of the international monetary system. If you want clear, long-form explanations about how global finance, power, and economic systems actually work, consider subscribing to the channel. New videos explore the hidden structures behind money, debt, geopolitics, and history.